Brake hanger



Feb. 7; 1956 F. E. BACHMAN 2,733,782

BRAKE HANGER Filed June 1, 1950 I INVENTOR. 736d 25. ,Zaaimm United States Patent 2,733,782 BRAKE HANGER Fred E. Bachman, St. Louis, Mo., assignor to American gteel Foundries, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of New ersey Application June 1, 1950, Serial No. 165,531

2 Claims. (Cl. 188-207) This invention relates to railway brakes and more particularly to a novel brake hanger having a strong and resilient construction capable of withstanding impacts and bending stresses encountered in service.

It has been discovered that due to impacts and fatique, brake hangers of the type normally utilized in suspending railway brake beams frequently break in service. Increasing the dimensions of such hangers is not only undesirable because of an increase in the weight of the brake rigging, but also complicates the suspension of the rigging because of the extremely limited clearances.

Accordingly, a primary object of the present invention is to devise a brake hanger having a strong and resilient construction capable of withstanding the impacts and stresses of railway service.

Another object of the invention is to provide a brake hanger such as above described, wherein the weight is not materially greater than those presently in service.

A more specific object of the invention is to devise a brake hanger which may be economically fabricated, as by forging, and in which the metal is distributed to afford maximum strength at the points of greater stress.

The foregoing and other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following specification and the accompanying drawing wherein:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of a brake hanger embodying the invention;

Figure 2 is an edge elevational view thereof; and

Figure 3 is a sectional view on the line 3-3 of Figure 1.

Describing the invention in detail, the novel brake hanger is preferably a steel forging comprising a body portion generally designated 2, integrally connected to a flat annular boss 4 having an eye or opening 6 containing a hardened steel bushing 8, press fitted therein. The opposite end of the body portion is connected to another flat annular boss 10 having an opening 12 containing a hardened steel bushing 14, press fitted therein.

It will be understood that the eye 6 of the boss 4 is adapted for pivotal connection, as by a pin (not shown), to the supporting truck structure (not shown) of a conventional railway car, and the eye 12 of the boss 10 is adapted for reception of a supported brake beam trunnion (not shown) of a conventional brake rigging for such a truck.

The body portion 2 comprises a rib 16 which, as best seen in Figure 1, tapers from the boss 4 and also tapers from the boss 10 to a point of minimum width at the line 3-3 of Figure l; and the body portion also comprises another rib 18, generally perpendicular to the rib 16 and tapering from the bosses 4 and 10 to a point of minimum width at the section line 3-3.

Referring now to Figure 3, it will be seen that the ribs 16 and 18 of the body portion 2 define a cruciform crosssectional area at that point, and it has been found that this novel construction affords maximum strength and fatigue resistance for a given cross-sectional area.

I claim:

1. A brake hanger comprising spaced bosses having parallel bores therethrough, a body integrally connected at opposite ends to the respective bosses, said body comprising mutually perpendicular intersecting ribs intermediate the points of connection to the associated bosses, each of said ribs having tapering sides converging toward one of said bosses to a portion of said body having the smallest cross sectional area, said portion being disposed between the connection to one of said bosses and the medial portion of the body.

2. A forged steel brake beam hanger comprising an elongated body, spaced bosses formed on arcuate extensions at the ends of said body, said bosses having parallel bores therethrough and one of said bosses being larger than the other, said body having a pair of coplanar ribs extending longitudinally thereof, another pair of coplanar ribs extending longitudinally of said body and perpendicular to the plane of the first mentioned ribs, each of said ribs having sides converging from the small boss to the large boss and to a point in the body whereat the smallest cross sectional area is defined, said point being disposed intermediate the large boss and the medial portion of the body.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,625,805 Hansson Apr. 26, 1927 1,717,066 Rockwell June 11, 1929 2,547,860 Flesch Apr. 3, 1951 2,590,714 Light Mar. 25, 1952 

